


Dishonored: The Aftermath

by elitree



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 18:39:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15802308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elitree/pseuds/elitree
Summary: I started this fanfiction out of my desperate search for a real ending for the Kladwin era that will apparently not be published by Arcane Studios/Bethesda anytime soon, so this fanfic takes place directly after the ending of Death of the Outsider. I decided to use all canonical endings I could find, but added a little loophole that allowed me to keep Jindosh alive. As this is work in progress, I cannot say much about what is going to happen, but I intend to answer questions including, but not restrained to the following: What happened to Corvo and Emily? What does the Outsider (currently calling himself Vero Moray) plan on doing in the real world? What happens to the Abbey? How does Billie deal with her power? And finally, but not ultimately: Who will become the next Outsider?Dislaimer: Unfortunately it seems that Daud won't make a return in this fanfic.





	Dishonored: The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> a) As you might notice, the dialogue between Daud and Billie was taken from the original Dishonored: Death of the Outsider game by Arcane Studios/Bethesda.  
> b) This is my first time posting a fanfiction. Feel free to comment useful hints.  
> c) English isn't my mother tongue. Feel free to comment corrections or misused words.

**The Outsider:** _And so, I feel the end coming. I sense the tantalizing vibes of fate moving closer, as I always did since the day my throat was slit by the Twin-Bladed Knife. I had felt centuries scarring the skin of the stone I once walked on, saw empires develop, rise and thrive, then crumble from within and fall to ashes that rippled through my fingers. I witnessed the corruption of generations of human beings settling this earth, perverting and scorching the ground lesser beings struggled to live on. Blinded by blackness I looked down on the rich and powerful, the poor and weak and everyone between, followed them with mere interest, rooted deep inside the blackest heart of the Void. And now, for the first time in an eternity, I will be at the mercy of somebody else. A somehow unsettling perception, but then again, I feel alive. And that is, what I am on the hunt for. I want, what I, willingly or passively, took from so many others but never achieved to once more claim to be mine:_

_The pulsation of a heart._

 

**THROUGHOUT THE AGES**

**THE VOID**

Billie leant an endlessly little bit over the ledge of the big pipe which extended over the whole room that once might have been a mine, but now, seen through the eye of the dead god, appeared to be another corner of the Void. Black granite pierced through walls and the sky was… uncertain. Where barriers used to be, a far view of the omnipresent emptiness stretched into the distance, and huge cliffs had risen upon Billies head where once passage was granted. Suddenly, a tall, statuesque figure stalked in sight. It seemed to be made out of the same material as the warped reality around it and it walked in the same convulsive, shivering way. Would it not be for the glowing eyes and limbs, it would be able to perfectly blend into its surroundings. _And that wouldn’t even be its most terrifying trait,_ Lurk thought as she watched the being creeping by. Unfortunately, the envisioned stood in front of a giant vortex of pale light and thus blocked it. Indistinctly cursing, the assassin made an angry gesture with her hand, that one might have easily mistaken for a simple mean for stress relief if it was not for the voltaic gun that was attached to her left arm. The bolt that was attached to it began to glow, as it was rapidly overcharged, then dashed out of the rail towards the envisioned. The projectile hit the creature at what would be a forehead if it was human. Quite different from a human, its head was not torn back fast enough to break its neck, but it stood completely still for the first time. Then, the man of stone fell to his knees, concentrating to get his substance in order. Lurk knew that the shockwave of the impact had distorted it for a few seconds completely. The envisioned started to slowly get back up, just in time to see that the assassin had disappeared. Billie reappeared out of thin air, grabbed the creature by its face and dug the knife deep into it. Despite the curious glow, the strange stone was cool and emitted a strange vibration that made the hand that held the cheek of the stone man immediately go numb. She clenched her teeth and twisted the knife until the head of the envisioned exploded. Breathing heavily, she stretched her palm and fingers. Then she moved on towards the vortex. It was an ever-warping, ever-moving _thing_ nestled by the same dark-grey stone as everywhere else. When she touched it, she knew she was at the edge of… something. She scoffed by the thought that that was something the Outsider would say. Then she opened the tear and slipped through it.

 

It was different. The Void, always ancient and anomalous, was so much older here. It was archaic. She felt her hackles raise and she somehow sensed her breath streaming in when she exhaled. _This place is wrong on so many layers…,_ Billie thought while she leapt over something that pretended to be water, just as the big monolith in the centre of it _pretended_ to be made from stone. Already after those few days with the strange newfound powers she used them pretty slick. She dissolved and reappeared multiple times several meters ahead and felt, how one of the artefacts around her wrist began to glow as it sucked energy from the Void. In a crack, that looked small from the distance but appeared to be huge from up close, the Outsider stood, frozen in a painful scream, incarcerated in the heart of the Void. Billie suddenly remembered the lines from the unforgettable _Month of Darkness: “_ In the Month of Darkness, seasons destroyed/ A ritual killing bound his spirit to the Void/ Eyes drained of colour, the beggar no more/ To become what the Believers waited for/ They set him outside, beyond the spheres/ Quiet as the night, long like the years/ He opened his eyes, as black as a dream/ Trying to speak, his only words only a scream _”_ She suddenly noticed the truth, the accuracy by which the song described what had happened here so many years ago and it made her laugh. It was liberating, standing at the edge of madness, watching a suffering god in the middle of the void, willing to make an end to his infinite supremacy and just letting it go. And then she saw something that made her stop all of a sudden. Between the fading spirits of lost beings surrounding the dead god sat one man. He looked lost and his shape flickered, but she would have recognized him beneath thousands: Her old mentor, her father in spirit, Daud. The man whose corpse she had burned and sent away with the winds of the sea. She slowly moved towards him. She sat down next to him, slightly touching his shoulder. She had made her decision. Daud looked up to her, his face showing disorientation and restlessness.

DAUD: Look at us, trapped here. An eternity on a butcher’s block, waiting for the knife to fall. There’s nothing left of me but this.

Billie shook his arm wildly. She feared to look further into this great mind, terrorized by the thought it could already have been grinded by the Void.

BILLIE:  Daud! I’m here! Look at me!

He looked up, his eyes showing astonishment.

DAUD: I know that name. I know you – there was blood, and masks, and blades raised. Billie Lurk. Do you remember when you hated me? And now you’ve followed me into the Void itself. You brought the knife. I can’t hurt him - there’s nothing I can do. Only you can kill him. How long have I waited here?

BILLIE:  Too long, old man.

The old assassin slowly turned his head towards the stone-corroded youngling.

DAUD: There he is. The Outsider. All this time dreaming in the Void. I wonder if he dreamed about this moment. Go. Finish it. End his miserable life.

BILLIE:  He almost looks like he is in pain. Is this really what you want? Is this really what he deserves?

DAUD: You know how this ends, Billie.

BILLIE:  I found another way. The Outsider lived and breathed once. He spent his days on the street of some forgotten city. These cultists took everything away from him – even his name. But I know what it is. His name is the mark. Only the dead can read it. If we give that back to him, he’ll be free. He’ll live out the rest of his days as a man like any other.

DAUD: The mark? No. You’re here to kill him. You can’t ask me to do this, Billie. Not after everyone he’s hurt. Not after everything we’ve done.

BILLIE:  Why is he to blame for what we did? He gave us a way to fight back. He never lied to us about what we might become.

DAUD: You know what I became. We looked down on Dunwall as if we owned it. As if we could drown it in blood. No. He knew we would turn into monsters like him. He always knew. End it Billie. He can’t do anything but harm.

BILLIE:  I saw the cult who hurt him. He died once at their hands. Look at him. This wasn’t his choice. He never asked for this power.

DAUD: Then end it. Put him out of his misery, if you pity him. It’s a better future then anything that might wait out there for him.

BILLIE:  Years ago, I did something terrible to you. I didn’t deserve to live. But you let me walk away. You gave me a chance. Let him live, Daud. Let him live the live he lost. Like you did for me.

DAUD: When you left Dunwall, I hoped you could live a better life without me. That your future wouldn’t be killing for coin until somebody came to betray you. Forgiveness is a rare thing in this world, Billie. You’re better than I was.

He turned towards the petrified boy, slowly walking towards him. Then, with a resigned sigh, he leant down to his ear and whispered something. Billies gasped, noticing a slight change in the air. She knew what would happen now.

BILLIE:  Daud…

Daud turned around slowly. His face showed sadness and happiness simultaneously as his shape started to dissolve.

DAUD: Farewell, Billie. For the last time.

As soon as Daud was erased from both earth and Void, the Outsiders skin began to smoothen as the stone crumbled and went back. The boy looked at her, his eyes showing astonishment and for a split second, it seemed as there was a small glimpse of satisfaction in his face. But it faded fast enough for Billie to be sure, that it must had been a delusion. He breathed hard, but steadily. _I can taste... blood in my mouth,_ he coughed, _I can hear Dauds voice in my ear. You have done... something impossible._ Billie chuckled softly. _We let you live. I can take you out of here._ She noticed, that blackness had sphered them, centring both her and the former god, and she knew that she was right. The sword in her hand had stopped whispering the moment that Daud had spoken the name of the Outsider. It had become another powerful tool in her arsenal, waiting to be used. He touched his eyes, his face showing surprise and a bit curiosity. _These eyes were closed for centuries, and I saw everything. Bound here, I walked through the minds of generations... and now..._ Billie Lurk reached for his hand, cutting a tear into reality itself with the Twin-Bladed Knife. _You’re free._

 

**27 th, IN THE MONTH OF RAIN**

**GRISTOL, DUNWALL**

The Month of Rain lived up to its name as broad streams of water poured down the metal rooftops of Dunwall, cloaking the few citizens of the Empire’s capital city, who were poor enough to be forced to walk the flooding streets, in a steady coat of shadowiness. No one would be stupid enough to walk outside if he hadn’t to. No one, of course, except the legendary Empress Emily Drexel Lela Kaldwin, first of her name and her not less legendary Royal Protector and Spymaster Corvo Attano from Karnaca. The clashing of their swords bit sharply through the loud dripping of the heavy raindrops. Their bodies, though being in an act that was born out of the need to defend and kill, were moving in total harmony. It was as if they were dancing to a symphony of flesh and steel only they were able to hear. Then, onto a signal no one who didn’t wait for it would have noticed, they ran towards the wall that protected the ordinary people from stumbling from the cliff the palace was built on into their watery grave beneath. _Ordinary,_ Emily thought smiling, _a word only an empress who is able to use the dark powers of the Void can say without second thought._ Their swords folded while they sprinted towards the balustrade. Upon balancing on it, they took a deep breath, then, several meters from the watchtower, took off and leaped towards it. Their faces showed nothing but strained excitement, though dozens of meters and then cold rock would wait beneath them if they failed to grasp the ledge of the tower. But they didn’t. Facing the next tower, the old man nodded, then ran and jumped. There was a slight _swoosh_ when he reached the middle of his way to the next tower and it seemed that he would start to fall, but the air suddenly appeared to thicken and a moment later he could land safely on the battlements of the tower. He grinned, obviously satisfied. The young woman had watched him in a state of tenseness, her left hand clenched to a fist. When she saw him landing safely, she relaxed. Corvo waved inviting, moving asides as to make place. She didn’t take a run up but jumped directly. It seemed obvious that she would not make it to the tower, when she suddenly reached out her hand towards the balustrade beneath her. A strange, tentacle-looking arm stretched from her hand and pulled her towards the ground for a second, then dissolved, giving her enough momentum to fly towards the tower, where she landed safely. Then they continued their route and finally landed on the water lock that led to the Wrenhaven River. Most people wouldn’t have made it to this point. They would’ve died fighting against the empress or the Royal Protector, slipped off the balustrade or wouldn’t have leaped far enough to reach the towers. And the few people who would have made it, wouldn’t have done what both Emily and Corvo were about to do. She looked at him and smiled wild-eyed. _How about taking a bath?_ And for the first time in an eternity, Attano laughed. They both stepped back and then, in perfect harmony, jumped thirty meters deep into their watery grave at the foot of the lock.

Rain whipped against their faces as they fell. Their whole bodies were flooded with adrenaline and they felt invincible. That must have been the reason, why Emily didn’t notice the change at first.

Corvo fell slowly, he turned his head towards his daughter, laughing. He looked at her, her beautiful face, her muscular body and those eyes that so much reminded him of Jessamine. And he saw how her face turned ashen as pain distorted her face.

Emily’s arm burnt. The fall was forgotten, there was just pain and the sensation that something ended. Something all-embracing. Like watching an empire fall.

She felt the impact of the landing as from far away. Everything went black and she was sucked into deep darkness.

Corvo’s head burst through the surface of the river. He made the fall like the master he was. Nothing he could say about his daughter. He swam towards her position, noticing the bubbles that floated towards him as he dived down. He found her, the arm stretched into his direction as if she was trying to hold on to him. His strong arms embraced her, his heart pumping more adrenaline than blood through his body as he flipped towards the surface. He lifted her body onto his shoulders as if she weighed nothing. Water flooded out of her mouth and she coughed silently but didn’t wake up. Forgotten was the pain, all his scars seemed to have vanished as he hastened to the palace. _GET DR. TOKSVIG TO THE ROYAL CHAMBER!_ , Corvo shouted as he opened the door to the throne room. A guard that was unlucky enough not to step aside fast enough got smacked down by the Royal Protector with his bare hand.

The Royal Physician, Dr. Toksvig, arrived just in time to see the empress open her eyes. She gave Emily’s wet clothes just a short glimpse, then looked at Attano with clear disapproval. _Just taking a walk in the rain, when she fainted, I suppose?_ , she asked, irony lying on her rasping voice. Before the Royal Protector was able to say anything, the empress snapped: _Indeed. I am terribly sorry that we interrupted you in your work, but I need to talk to Lord Attano alone._ Toksvig gave her an inquiring look, then she nodded. _As there seem no bones to be broken, I guess you are free to be left alone_ , she said. She did a few additional standard tests, just to make sure that the empress noticed how rude it was to order her around like a minor servant, then she left. _Are you sure you are alright?,_ Corvo asked upon the fading sound of the Physician’s steps. _Yes, I told you I’m fine,_ Emily answered, clearly annoyed. _What happened at the water lock? -  The mark. It... it started to burn. Is that usual?_ Corvo shook his head. He looked worried. _Anything else? – It became..._ She stopped mid-sentence. He watched her quizzically. _Silent,_ she said finally, _it became silent. Like the Void was… at rest. – Interesting. How to come? What changed? And more importantly..._ how _? The powers of the void aren’t easily bent. – Didn’t you sense anything?_ The Royal Protector shook his head. _But you know, that I don’t have access to most of my supernatural abilities. They vanished when Delilah took my mark. I will live longer, healthier and be more vital, but that is it, I guess._ Emily looked down on her hands, embarrassed in a way she couldn’t quite explain. Corvo was about to say something comforting, when the empress suddenly gasped in surprise. _What is it?,_ Attano asked. She raised her left hand. _Can you see it?,_ she asked back. The Royal Protector blinked a few times, then it began to take a clear structure in his eyes. _Oh._

_They watched the pale light of the sun break in the shimmering glass the hand now consisted of._

 

**SAME DAY**

**SERKONOS, ADDERMIRE INSTITUTE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES**

Alexandria Hypatia loved her work. Not only for its, though sometimes disappointing, normally rewarding successes but also for its consequences. She was a doctor, not because she had to become one out of a family situation but because she felt a grim enjoyment when she cured another person of his or her suffering. After all the years since she was forced to stay at Addermire, she began to feel the rhythm of the old building and its peculiarities. She hummed a song that suddenly had come to her mind, while she watched the walls of the recuperation area, wondering if the colour could be customized to feel more welcoming than the cold grey. She took a metal tray which had been fastidiously suspended on the wall, placed a few varied medicine bottles on top of it and strolled towards the patient rooms, taking the longer way which led over the sun-drenched terrace. She greeted the old Mr. Malone, who had lost his right leg while he paid a visit to his own shoe-factory. She hadn’t quite figured out how he had managed to do so, but that didn’t lessen her care for him. He smiled his toothless smile, then turned back in order to look through the telescope he held in his hand, watching distant shores. Dr. Hypatia continued her walk to the rooms of the other patients. She talked to them, gave them medicine and told them their names or their current date if needed and ordered newspapers and crayons if requested. One person drew her special attention: A young woman that had recently been brought to them. When Alexandria opened the door to her room, she stood on her bed, trembling with fear. The doctor was torn between concern and annoyance. _Gelsine, it is alright. There are no rats_ , she told her patient with a calm but determined voice. _THEY ARE THERE!_ , the girl shouted, then, suddenly becoming silent, asked: _But why aren’t you being eaten?_ Hypatia shrugged casually. _They don’t exist._ – _Oh. Right_ , the girl said, still unsure. Her brother had been eaten by bull rats when she was even younger than now, at the time of the plague. Gelsine’s parents told Hypatia that everything had been alright until something triggered some reaction inside her, but regarding how seldom they came to visit, she suspected that a lack of money due to the harsh times in Dunwall had kept them from bringing her to Addermire until a few weeks ago. She had made process regularly from then on and didn’t need medicine for five days. The nurses had to remind her now and then that there were no rats, but she was fine by large. Hypatia was about to leave, when Gelsine suddenly said: _Oh, Alexandria, did you know that the wood-and-fabric-thing is gone?_ She turned her head in surprise. _No, I didn’t. Hadn’t it still been there yesterday?_ Gelsine nodded. _But now, it is gone._ Instead of leaving through the patio, Hypatia turned right and walked into the bordering room. It hadn’t been used since the reopening because of the wood-and-fabric-thing that had been confirmed by the Overseers to be a shrine of the Outsider. Only because of Hypatia’s excellent connections the whole building could be kept opened while the room itself got sealed. Now she broke the seal and opened the door. Gelsine was right. The shrine was not only gone, it appeared as if it never had existed. Dust had settled where thick curtains once touched the cupboards. The ground was evenly bleached by sun. _I’ve got to report that_ , Hypatia murmured. _Could you also report that I need a new book?_ , Gelsine asked jolly. _Nah, you can go to the library yourself,_ the doctor told her while leaving. During the complete renovation of Addermire, she had taken the initiative and improved on many parts of the house, including a small library in the former tanning salon, a common room inside a now glass-sealed pavilion in the exterior and a therapy area in a former bureau complex. She was very pleased with the changes she had made. On the way down to the guard room in the front entrance she remembered what she actually had been planning to do after meeting the patients in the patient rooms. She did not like it at all, hence she took her time posting the letter to the overseer outpost in Karnaca. Then Hypatia slowly moved towards the elevator and pressed _basement_.

A few months ago, the ingenious but evil grand inventor Kirin Jindosh had been found in his laboratory, desperately searching for help as he seemed to have lost his memories. At first, the aristocrats who found him thought he would be making fun of them, but, shortly thereafter, noticed multiple destroyed clockwork soldiers and knocked out guards lying around. They fled the house and asked the next guards they could find for help. The new Duke took Jindosh prisoner and asked empress Emily Kaldwin for her advice in the case. Emily, who still was of the opinion to have killed the grand inventor, not noticing that the time paradox at Stilton Manor also changed this past, simply answered with the words “Put him in a hearse?”. This, as a result, almost led to the second death of Kirin Jindosh, as the Duke was about to have him executed for treason when she became aware of her mistake and suggested keeping him prisoner until the grand reopening of Addermire. The grand inventor was treated as dead towards the publicity.

The committal had almost spoiled Hypatia’s great day and she happily dug out the old cellar in which they had kept Lady Moray until her release back in 1810. Jindosh had been part of the conspiracy that abused her dark side, Grim Alex, for a long time and she felt like it would be justified to keep him imprisoned down there for some time. Driving down to the basement, Hypatia remembered the strict orders that where given to the workers who had to renovate this chamber. They had to be accompanied by two tough-looking guards at all time. One of these grim figures had to come from Dunwall. These were the instructions and Hypatia was happy to follow them. The former mastermind looked up as he heard the loud _ping_ of the arriving elevator. Somehow Hypatia knew, when she entered the basement, that something had changed. And when he looked at her with his unique mixture of cunning and malice in his face, she knew, what it was: Jindosh had come to his mind. He slowly walked through the room. It had been designed just for him: The elevator doors were made from massive, rust-resistant steel, showing no screws or locks. The whole room consisted of perfectly welded and smoothed edges and nooks. It seemed as if it were made out of one part, unalterably by anything and anybody. Only a mattress lay on the solid ground. There was no table, no cupboard, no toilet and no window. Solitary confinement had gotten a new meaning at Addermire. Jindosh nodded to Hypatia, obviously recognizing her face. But unlike his typical behaviour, he did not say a word. He just stood there and fixated her with his piercing look. _Good morning, Mr. Jindosh,_ she said, trying hard to keep her voice neutral, _How are you today?_ The Grand inventor kept staring at her as if trying to figure something out he couldn’t quite explain. For a split second she hoped that she could’ve been wrong and he would still be a gabbling idiot, bound to be a victim of his own lobotomy machine. Then he started talking, slowly, as if picking on his words. Like a clicking and ticking clockwork. _How am I today? How… am I today? How am… I today? How am I… today?_ He thought about it for a second as if thinking about it for the first time at this day. _Well… I feel great. I love the sight. It is so… so… Seriously Doctor, whom am I making fun of?_ Hypatia sighed, trying to ignore his demeanour. _Do you know which day it is?_ He huffed. _Hardly._ Hypatia nodded satisfied. _Good. Where are you? – Well… as you obviously appear to be Alexandria Hypatia, I am sure I am on Addermire. Or should I say in? The walls are not only sealed to keep me from breaking out but also to keep the water outside. As a conclusion, I obviously am inside a cellar that had been dug deep enough to make you feel like I am truly locked away. If one looks at your dislike for me, it can only mean that it is held beneath the sea. Unfortunately for you, I am important enough that this elevator has been constructed in a way like the safe in the Dolores Michaels Bank, so this room can also be lifted if necessary, assuring I will stay alive in the case of a flood._ He scoffed. _Amusing thought that you just used a lift to visit a lift. Was that too accurate?_ Hypatia passed that over. _Would you kindly sit down on the mattress? I’d like to make a few tests._ Jindosh grinned. _Sure._ She pinched him a few times and tested some of his reflexes, jut for the protocol. _You seem to be alright. There will be made a final test to officially assure your recuperation, then we will decide where you can stay. – Oh, I still have a few houses here and there. That won’t be a problem. – I’m talking about prisons. – Hm._  Jindosh didn’t seem to be too concerned. Hypatia looked sharply at him. _And I will contact both her Empress Emily Kaldwin and the Duke._ His smile vanished. As soon as Hypatia was sure that she had won she turned her back to him and re-entered the elevator. She didn’t wish to stay any longer with this this monster than she had to. When she already thought she’d been released, she heard his rasping voice. _By the way…,_ he said and left a gap, long enough to make Hypatia ask: _Yes, what is it?_ Jindosh chuckled. _Why always so grim, Alex?_ Suddenly struck by panic, Alexandria stood still for a moment. A second later she started mashing the button of the elevator, silently begging it to close its doors. It did her the favour, but not fast enough. _Do you remember them? Their screams, their sweat, how they plead for mercy?_ She couldn’t do anything but stand there, terrorized, as his voice echoed disembodied through the small cabin. _Do you still feel their flesh between your teeth?_ His voice faded as she ascended. _Do you still taste their blood?_

She still heard him chuckle when the other nurses found her in the elevator. Her face turned ashen.

 

**28 th, IN THE MONTH OF RAIN**

**GRISTOL, WHITECLIFF**

The men were sitting in long rows. The cold leather smelled of the animals they once were a part of, and the urea that was used to tan them. It filled the air with a horrible stench that lowered the mood just a little bit more. The men sat up straight. No one even thought about saying a word. The hard rattling of the machines was too loud and the boat crashed into the waves again and again, putting both crew and ship into a curious beat. The rain that hit the few windows hard enough to almost let them crash remained unheard. The men were all dressed in the uniforms of warfare overseers. Not because they had to expect to be caught in a fight but because they granted their incognito. They were all high-ranked members of the Abbey. The only other people present on this ship were the captain, a few workers, marked children who passed the trials of aptitude and veteran overseers who guarded the men sitting in the ship. Though they tried to hide their discomfort, most of the masked men squirmed on their places. One of them had puked into his mask and ran outside for a few moments. When he came back he sat down again and didn’t say a word. Only two of the men looked unimpressed by their circumstances: A sturdily-built man in a corner, who didn’t move at all and another one who sat close to one of the wale oil-powered lamps in the middle of the room. One couldn’t tell anything about his stature as he sat there, deeply wrapped in his coat as he was. Different from the quiet man he fidgeted around now and then. _Seriously,_ one of the men suddenly asked and thus broke the silence for the first time on their journey. _How long will we be underway? It’s been two days since I’ve slept in a proper bed. I’m sick of this shit._ Silence arose again. Then, another man with a nasal voice answered, slowly like he was savouring every syllable of his words. _Please, brother, lower your voice. You might say things of crystal truth, but it will upset the younglings if they hear it. A true member of the Abbey of the Everyman_ _doesn’t swear. His path is beset on all sides with calm and patience._ Another man laughed briefly, sharply. _Yeah, sure brother Vin, you showed pure calm when you beat that boy to death in that side alley_ _after_ _he managed to steal some coins from you. How long did he survive in the_ _tyvian_ _streets without_ _his_ _jaw, I wonder?_ The man called Vin turned his head fast enough in the direction of the other masked one, that one would have heard his neck crackling if it weren't too loud outside, and hissed: _Shut up!_ The other man chuckled. The man in the coat had stopped fidgeting. _We’ll arrive at Whitecliff in about two and a half hours._ His voice sounded somehow guttural and soft at the same time. _Thanks, brother,_ the man next to Vin said. Then, silence arose again.

 

**SAME DAY, IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS**

**SERKONOS, KARNACA**

_I want a new boat._ Billie sat at the docks, disgruntledly watching steam ships harbouring in the distance. The boy next to her stayed silent. She turned her head a little bit in his direction. _I somehow expected you to say something like ‘You humans with your little desires blah blah...’,_ she said, raising an eyebrow. _I never figured you for the quiet type of guy._ The boy turned up his mouth. _Nah. I understand it. Now. Also, you need to live somewhere._ Billie nodded. _That indeed is the case,_ she said, mimicking an aristocrat. _Well,_ the boy suggested, _how about you take that money you got from your_ _little bank heist?_ Her face darkened just a tad. _I forgot where I put it after burning the_ Whale _. Anyway,_ she added, furrowing her brows, _why did you want to come here? – Do you see that chest?,_ he asked, pointing his fingers at a wooden box with the words _Pratchett’s Jellied Eels_ printed on top of it. It slowly swam towards them. _Yes...,_ she said. _Well,_ the boy told her in a for him untypically jolly way, _in about fifteen seconds it will arrive here, just in time to be pulled out of the water._ – _And I suppose there’s gonna be more inside than just jellied eels?,_ she asked, leaning forward to get a better grip on the box. The boy nodded and smiled. _Maybe we should open it somewhere else.... it’s very public here,_ he said. His look had gotten slightly nervous. The assassin raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. They pointed on a nice building across the street. _It is empty for now,_ he told her. _How do you claim to know that?,_ she asked sharply. _Knowledge is what I kept from the Void,_ he answered tautly, _That’s why I know what is inside this chest you’re holding and that this house will be empty for the next two days._ On their way to the building, the boy picked up a nail that was caught inside a carriage rail. Lurk didn’t ask, and when they arrived at a beautiful little flat, he took the nail and picked the lock within a matter of seconds. _Well then_ , the boy said, laying down on a red velvety sofa, _Open the treasure chest!_ She took a short glimpse at him, then she broke the lock and looked inside. _What the actual fuck...? – I knew where your money would arrive,_ the boy told her complacently. _I think it’ll be enough for a new boat._ Billie just stared at the gold ingots. _Maybe this time you call it directly_ Farewell Daud _?,_ he suggested. Billie still didn’t say a word. Then she slowly took a mask out of the chest and looked at it for a while. Suddenly she turned around stared at the boy, bewildered. _How much do you now, exactly?_ Her tone was dangerously calm. His face turned hard. _I... forget slowly. – HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW?_ He sighed. _Almost everything._ A long-lasting silence coated them. Then, Billie said: _I want to get rid of you as fast as possible._ The boy nodded. _I would like to go to Dunwall,_ he told her. That caught her attention. _Was that you’re home?_ The boy gave her a brief smile. _Where I come from doesn’t exist anymore. Not for about two millennia. But Dunwall always was my favourite city. Also, I have to have a word or two with the empress and the Royal Protector._ Billie laughed. _Of course. Always the mighty and powerful._ Now the boy chuckled, too. _Oh no, nothing like that. They’re… old friends. And friends deserve to be informed about imminent crises._ Billie passed that by. _And how do you want to get back? I won’t help you._ – _But maybe you could get somebody who would? – Do you think about somebody in specific? – Well… about three years ago, a woman called Martha Cottings died in a big explosion in a manor near to Dunwall. – And…? Shall I raise the dead now? – Well, of course not. She didn’t die. In fact, in the moment the explosion started, a tear in reality opened, time was bend and a person free from my influence stepped through that tear and asked Martha Cottings to follow her. – Her? – Why yes,_ the boy sighed, _she had a dark skin, was thin, her hair was black, she wore the_ Silver of the Eye _and her arm was replaced by the_ Black Shard Arm _. Do I have to spell it out?_ Billie scoffed. _Well, and how do you imagine me travelling through time? – Not through time. Through the Void. – And how shall I do that?_ The boy sighed impatiently. _You know it. Cut a tear into reality. Easy as that. – God, sometimes I want to kill you… and I have decided against that just yesterday._ But she noticed that he told the truth. Somehow, she knew how to use the knife, which wasn’t really surprising considering that it was a part of her now. The Blade seeped through her bones and dripped out of her sleeve, finally forming itself to the sharp god-killer-artefact it was. Billie swung it a few times and then started breaking the shroud of existence. The tear opened. _I should be back in a second, if it works,_ she told the boy. The boy nodded towards something behind her. _It already did._ – _Hell, yeah,_ a dry, female voice said. Billie turned around. A hollow-like image of her plodded towards Billie, taking shape as it came closer. _Not an image,_ Billie thought, _it’s actually me._ Another woman walked closely behind her. _Well then,_ both Billies said. She knew that she first had to enter the Void before the other she could leave it. Otherwise there would be consequences for her. She couldn’t tell what kind of consequences, but she knew, that they wouldn’t be great for her and she knew, that she got that knowledge from that strange Twin-Bladed Knife. The older Billie now looked pretty real as she left the tear whilst the younger one that just entered it now began to look like a hollow: grey, distorted and shivering. _Everything okay?,_ asked the younger Billie as the tear began to heal. The older Billie nodded. The tear closed and she breathed in and out deeply. _FUCK! Why do I even lie to myself? I will know it in a few minutes anyway. Or know it already anyway. Whatever… fuck._ She took another deep breath. The woman behind her stirred. _Everything alright? – Damn… ahh. Just… leave. – Leave? I don’t even know what the heck is going on right now._ The woman became seemingly angry. Before the situation could escalate, the boy stepped in. _Come. I’ll explain everything to you._ The woman noticed baffled that the boy casually took a gold ingot out of a box of _Pratchett’s Jellied Eels_ and jammed it into his pocket. Then they left the flat and stepped onto the streets. The sun was unusually warm for the harsh weather of Gristol and reminded her of her youth in… _Sorry, where are we?_ The boy didn’t turn around as he walked over the carriage rails and answered: _We are in Karnaca._ – _What?_ She knew that she had heard right. The boy showed no sign of being on edge. _Long story short: Billie -the woman you just met- travelled through time and a bit of space with you to have somebody who brings me to Dunwall. She isn’t very eager to be babysitting me. And I guess you’d like to check in at the guard’s office there. They must be missing you after three years. – What?! - As I said, though time_ and space _. Your name is Martha Cottings, right?_ Martha didn’t answer. They slowly arrived at one of the docks. The man standing in front of the only ship there appeared to be very young for a captain. He was thin, pale-faced and his red hair seemed to glow more than most of the fires in the bellies of the steam ships that lay at anchor at the harbour. The boy next to Martha was headed directly towards him. _When do you sail to Dunwall?,_ He he asked as they stopped in front of him. The red-haired looked unimpressed. _Who says that I’m headed there, like, let’s say, at all?_ The boy by her side sighed and took the ingot out of his pocket. _This._ The captain’s eyes widened before tried hard to pull himself together. He looked at them suspiciously. _You’re willing to give the whole ingot to me?_ The boy next to Martha nodded. _We won’t be needing it afterwards. – In that case we can fire the engines as soon as you want._ He waved them onto the boat. The boy followed the captain and Martha stood there a second, surprised, before she moved as well. As they entered the cabins, the red-haired boy said: _My name is Danny Bare. What’s your name, if I am to ask?_ Martha reacted for the first time, seemingly waking up from deep thoughts. _My name is Martha Cottings,_ she said, wondering a second later if she should’ve told him something else. Maybe she was being wanted for deserting. But Danny didn’t bat an eye. _Call me Vero Moray,_ said the other boy. _I could swear that I heard that name somewhere…,_ told the captain them. There was a short pause, and when it became clear that the boy who called himself Vero wouldn’t jog his memory, the red-haired shrugged and turned towards the engines. _Oh, one question,_ asked Moray, _may I use the workshop?_ Danny looked at him in surprise. Vero smiled apologetically. _I saw it on the way down. I won’t be needing much, just the metal drill and a steel ingot._ The captain, obviously convinced, shrugged again. _Suit yourself. I don’t need it anyways. It kind of was a package-deal with the ship._ Vero nodded satisfied. Ten minutes later, the steam engines roared and the boat’s horn sounded as the ship left Karnaca.

 

**29 th IN THE MONTH OF RAIN**

**BRIEFLY AFTER MIDNIGHT**

**DUNWALL, GRISTOL**

 

Corvo watched Emily as she climbed the rooftop in front of them. She elegantly pushed herself up

the ledge and almost flew over it, landing on the metal plates without making a sound. Corvo followed her as silently. Though it had stopped raining in the afternoon, the sun didn’t shine bright enough to dry the dim streets of the capital, and the omnipresent smoke of burnt whale oil and smoked cigarettes mixed itself with the thick dust that arose every morning in the harbour district. Emily inhaled it deeply and with great passion. They both leant a little bit over the ledge and looked down on the streets. _We could bring the whole whaling business to an end and these streets would still smell the same. The whole stench has seeped into the buildings._ The pure satisfaction in her voice didn’t quite fit the harsh words and Corvo chuckled. He just wanted to say something as they heard loud voices from the street beneath. Two men, workers with dirty shirts and oil stains on their faces and arms as thick as thick as engine coils slowly stepped back from something out of Corvo’s and Emily’s sight. Their voices found their way up to the roof. _By the Outsider’s crooked cock. What IS that? – I dunno, but I won’t stay to find out._ They both turned around and ran out of the alley as fast as their heavy, tired bodies allowed them. When Corvo looked out for a lookout with a better angle, he saw that Emily obviously had had the same idea and moved to the next roof. He followed her and climbed down onto a ventilation shaft only a few meters over the ground. From there, he had an excellent view over the whole scene. _The workers must’ve come out of that pub,_ Emily told Corvo. _Come on, whatever might have been going on in there is the guard’s job._ Corvo almost agreed. Almost. _I’m not quite sure. These men don’t look like they’re easy to impress and they fled. Let me take a look._ Emily thought about it for a second and nodded then. _I’ll go in through the roof_ , she told him and was gone. Corvo jumped down and unfolded his sword.

 

Emily cracked the window open in no time. Without a sound she entered the building and took in her surroundings within a split second. She stood in an averagely provided room consisting only of a bed and a cupboard. The bed had been hastily made and the cupboard hadn’t been used. A large trunk stood open in the centre of the room and tough it where a man’s clothes within it, the whole room smelled of cheap perfume. Emily left the room and unsheathed her sword. It looked similar to Corvo’s, but the hilt was made out of whale bone and thus showed a dirty-white colour instead of the dark metal-wood combination of the folded knife. She stepped on the floor. She knew that something was off. The air was humming with a pressure that didn’t really exist and little, glowing sparks emitted a strange, unsteady light. Emily mended her pace. The pub was almost empty. Only a man sat at the bar. He was shaking and his shape warped. He shouted loudly as his spine was stretched until it cracked and his skin turned to stone. Both Emily and Corvo, who stood motionless in the entrance, knew that kind of rock. It was from the Void.

The creature that stood before them wasn’t human anymore. It looked like someone tried to put pieces of a cliff into a human form and didn’t have the time to sculpture every detail from it. The eyes glowed tranquilly. As it turned around and inspected its surroundings, Emily noticed that its movements were calm, almost elegant, disturbed only by a slight shiver. It was hypnotizing and the Empress almost didn’t notice that the being suddenly stood directly in front of her and could barely dodge a swift strike by pointy arms of the otherworldly. The wound on her neck wasn’t deep but burnt like fire and sharpened her sense. In a split second the time warped and a second became the minute she needed to think. Her eyes now saw everything brightly and she analysed the man of Void stone. Her head visualized her every movement and she suddenly realized, that she would’ve been much worse of if her father hadn’t been with her, who

 

jumped, his knife in both hands, pointing down on a point between the neck and the head, seeing his daughter coming to the right conclusion and,

 

using her inhumanly quick reactions cutting off both arms in one, fluent movement, robbing the entity of all flexibility, which enabled her father to

 

decapitate the enlightened with one crushing blow, whereupon the whole body collapsed, parts sinking into the floor, others vaporizing, some staying motionless. Corvo looked at his daughter and she nodded in a silent agreement that they should leave the Pub before the locals arrived. They didn’t doubt that the guard would bring them their find soon enough. She grabbed him gently at his waist and catapulted them onto the roofs, out into the young night. The palace glowed in the distance with decent grandeur.

 

They reached the castle half an hour later. Then they waited another five minutes for the change of shifts to enter it unseen. A secret door on an old overgrown gallery lead them into an even more hidden chamber that could only be opened by three keys, worked into the rings of Lady Emily Kaldwin, Lord Protector Corvo Attano and into a simple metal plate which the former Royal Physician Anton Sokolov threw into the ocean upon leaving the court. _We should go back to our chambers so we can receive the surprising news when necessary,_ Corvo proposed. Emily nodded, opening the knot in her hair and disposing of her weaponry. She yawned and moved into the bordering room to find some rest. Minutes later she sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

 

A lady-in-waiting woke her carefully from her sleep. _Lord Attano wishes to speak to you,_ she said, gently pulling her from her bed. Emily blinked a few times to wake up and looked outside the window, noticing that the sun was still standing low, a few rays of light still kissing the sea. She washed herself briefly in the bathtub and put on clothing, then she walked down into the throne room. The newest decoration where two thick curtains that covered a huge picture of the deceased Delilah Copperspoon sitting on the throne.


End file.
